Lance blade from Kovel
The lance blade from Kovel (also spearhead of K.) is an archaeological find from the year 1858, named after the place where it was found in Kovel, Ukraine . The artifact is dated to the third century AD and, because of its inscription, has an important place in the context of historical linguistics .
The characters are undoubtedly old Germanic runes . As tilarids transliterated, the runic inscription consisting of one word can be assigned to an East Germanic dialect . The etymologically obvious and generally accepted translation of the word is 'Zielreiter'. An interpretation of the cultural and historical meaning of the inscription, on the other hand, leaves more room for maneuver.
The Kovel lance blade has been missing since 1945.
The inscription bearer
Since the archaeological artifact as such has been declared lost since World War II , little information is available about the inscription bearer and its historical context. A cast from 1880 of the Berlin Museum of Prehistory and Early History is equally lost. Who used the object for what purposes or by whom it was made remains unanswered.
The lance blade is made of iron and has a length of 15.5 cm. The widest point measures 3 cm. Symbols and eight unmistakable rune signs in silver inlaid on the tip of the spear .
Transliteration of the inscription
In research, the inscription is transliterated as:
ᛏ ᛁ ᛚ ᚨ ᚱ ᛁ ᛞ ᛊ = tilarids
On the artifact, read from right to left, six of the eight existing characters can be assigned to the older Futhark without a doubt . Only the characters (1) and (7) give cause for speculation, but in the overall context they also allow an allocation to the common Germanic rune series. Exceptions and peculiarities, as in the case of Kovel's spearhead, can also be observed in other inscriptions. A standardized writing convention as we know it today cannot be used for runic inscriptions anyway.
In the present case, the anomalies can be explained in a comprehensible manner in the script. Sign (1) can be read as a t- rune with the sticks folded up. Although researchers have taken different approaches to interpret the sign, in the end the plausible interpretation as ᛏ is convincing. Taking this writing style into account, the rune (7) can be logically explained as d- rune . The in the classic Futhark from the middle down or. The upward-pointing, angular rods of the rune ᛞ were implemented in the Kowel lance blade in a folded-up version and thus explain the rectangular writing version. This reading is generally accepted in runology.
Explanation of the inscription
With the Lanzenblatt von Kowel the interpretation of the linguistic material is the focus of interest. The generally represented transcription as tilarids allows a conclusive linguistic determination on the level of morphology and semantics , which can thus also be asserted in an etymological context . Linguistically, the word tilarids can be determined as a compound from the parts tila and rids .
The second component rids , as the carrier of the grammatical information, provides information about the linguistic assignment of the word. In the case of a rune, the starting point for determining is a Germanic dialect. The ending -ds speaks for a probable language level of Gothic or in general for an East Germanic dialect, for which a corresponding morphological ending must be assumed. An East Germanic final - ds is traced back to a Germanic preform * -daz , taking into account the corresponding sound laws (syncope and final hardening) . For rids , a form germ. * Ridaz with the meaning 'rider' is reconstructed, which works grammatically as a verbal noun, more precisely as a noun agentis, and can be explained as a formation from germ. * Reid-a- 'reiten'. This form is a direct etymological equivalent to New High German riding (< Old High German rītan ) and can be further compared with the cognates from the related Germanic languages .
The first part tila can be assigned as a noun in systematic correspondence to the etymon germ. * Tila- (or. * Tilaz as nominative singular), which is still tangible in the Old High German zil 'goal'. In the Gothic language, a correspondence is only recorded in the verbal form gatilōn 'achieve, achieve', in gatils 'suitable' or and-tilōn 'take aim'. On the basis of this evidence, a Gothic reconstruction * tils 'goal' would be assumed as a neutral a-stem. Based on these assumptions, the form tila effectively present in the Kowel lance leaf can be read as a dative singular. The more precise meaning of the first member of the compound word is thus to be understood as 'the goal' or 'to the goal'.
On the basis of these explanations, the interpretation of tilarids as “target rider” in the sense of “the one who rides to the target” becomes linguistically plausible. The linguistic definition, however, leaves the cultural-historical meaning of the inscription open. The runologist Klaus Düwel interprets the rune as "a magical-poetic weapon designation with which the lance is characterized in its function as a rider on a target (the opposing protective weapons and their carriers)". That the object should be given a corresponding function with the help of an inscription can also be observed in other examples. With the lance sheet of Dahmsdorf with the inscription ranja 'Anrenner', related comparisons can be made.
The interpretation of the inscription as a personal name would also be conceivable (cf. Old English Tilred ). Germanic personal names were mostly compounds in their full form.
Ornaments
Apart from the linguistic-historical context of the Lanzenblatt von Kowel, the symbols and decorations made on the artefact are of possible importance for archeology, culture and art history. The symbols from the later Roman Empire are Sarmatian symbols and indigenous healing symbols. On the lance blade from Kowel there are double hooks, four vertebrae or swastika, crescent moon, dot circles and a sign in the form of a Y above which two V are located.
literature
- Braune, Wilhelm / Heidermanns, Frank: Gothic grammar. With reading pieces and dictionary. 20th edition, revised by Frank Heidermanns, Tübingen 2004.
- Braune, Wilhelm / Reiffenstein, Ingo: Old High German grammar I. Phonology and form theory. 15th edition edited by Ingo Reiffenstein, Tübingen 2004.
- Grünzweig, Friedrich: Runic inscriptions on weapons: Inscriptions from the 2nd century AD to the high Middle Ages, Vienna 2004.
- Düwel, Klaus: Runenkunde, 4th edition, Stuttgart 2008.
- Düwel, Klaus: Kowel. In: Hoops, Johannes: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde [Bd. 17], Berlin / New York 2001, pp. 270-272.
- Kluge, Friedrich: Etymological dictionary of the German language. 25th, reviewed and adult Edition / edit by Elmar Seebold, Berlin 2011.
- Seebold, Elmar: Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of Germanic Strong Verbs, The Hague 1970.
WebLinks
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Braune, Frank Heidermanns: Gothic grammar . Ed .: Thomas Klein, Ingo Reiffenstein and Helmut Gneuss. 20th edition. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, p. 263 .
- ↑ Düwel, Klaus: Runenkunde . 4th edition. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-14072-2 , p. 31 .
- ↑ William Brown, Ingo Reiffenstein: Old High German Grammar I . Ed .: Thomas Klein, Ingo Reiffenstein and Helmut Gneuss. 15th edition. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 2004, ISBN 3-484-10861-4 , p. 13 .